PARADISE LOST

As the first English translation of a critically acclaimed book on Japanese Minamata Disease is being published, more than 2,000 victims continue to seek compensation in nine lawsuits.

It has been more than 35 years since the victims, many now in their 70s, suffered irreversible and debilitating damage from the world`s first methyl mercury poisoning case.

While the book, ''Paradise in the Sea of Sorrow: Our Minamata Disease,''

probably won`t speed up any legal battles, the English-language version allows American readers a glimpse at the sorrow and courage of the victims.

Written by Minamata homemaker Michiko Ishimure, 64, and published by Kyoto-based Yamaguchi Publishing House, the book is the fruit of the friendship and five-year endeavor between the author and its translator, Livia Monnet.

Monnet, assistant professor of Japanese language and literature at the University of Minnesota, first read the book 10 years ago.

''I was truly moved,'' she said in a phone interview. ''It was such a powerful book. I wanted to know more about the author.''

Monnet, whose academic interests include environmental issues, went to Japan in 1980 to study at Kumamoto University, about 800 miles southwest of Tokyo. The university is well known for its studies of Minamata disease, which severely damages the central nervous system.

Monnet visited Minamata, about 50 miles south of Kumamoto, more than 20 times before she left Japan in 1983. Ishimure said she and Monnet met ''very often and became good friends.''

Monnet, born in Bucharest, Romania, has mastered nine languages, including English, German, Chinese and Japanese. Even so, she found the translation job a challenge.

''The hardest part was translating Ishimure`s poetic words into English, as there is no equivalent,'' Monnet said.

Minamata disease was first documented in 1956 in a fishing district of Minamata, on the island of Kyushu. The major symptoms were severe convulsions, numbness of the limbs and lips and speech disorders. Severe cases often were accompanied by difficulty in walking, vision loss and mental disorders.

Within three months doctors diagnosed 30 cases. The mortality rate was strikingly high: The first victims all died.

It wasn`t until 1963, when a Kumamoto University medical team found that the fish and shellfish were contaminated with methyl-mercury, that the cause was known. A chemical plant, Chisso Corp., had dumped an estimated 27 tons of industrial waste, including methyl-mercury, into Minamata Bay since 1932.

The Kumamoto University medical team estimated that over the years 100,000 to 200,000 people in the area were affected. Dr. Masazumi Harada, neuropsychiatrist at Kumamoto University, estimates that some 10,000 victims are still alive. Although the exact toll is unknown, Harada estimates that at least 3,000 have died.

Ishimure wrote about the victims as a symbol of the destruction of Minamata`s environment and spiritual climate. ''They were human sacrifices of Japan`s modernization and industrialization,'' she said.

She determined to record ''their horrible fate'' as her life`s work about three decades ago.

Ishimure interviewed victims and researched newspaper articles, medical journals and court records. In an environment that maintains a strong prejudice against women writing, she had to hide her intention to write about the victims.

Though Ishimure decided the book`s title ''instinctively without any hesitation,'' it took 10 years to finish the writing. She even concealed her writing from her husband, working at a poorly lighted corner desk at night while her family slept. (Later, he reluctantly gave silent approval).

During the day, her workload as a housewife included gathering firewood in the forest and washing clothes in the river.

Despite health problems-she lost sight in her left eye because of a cataract-Ishimure was not discouraged.

Ishimure`s book was published in Japan in 1969. It was praised by literary critics, who said that the book was written as if the author were under the spiritual guidance of the victims.

Ishimure continues to write about Minamata disease. She`s now writing her third book, ''Paradise in the Sea of Sorrow, Part II,'' which Monnet intends to translate into English.

Ishimure said she will remain in Minamata ''to convey to posterity'' how Minamata disease victims lived and died.

The English translation of ''Paradise in the Sea of Sorrow'' ($35) may be ordered from the publisher, Yamaguchi Publishing House, 72 Tsukuda-cho, Ichijoji, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606, Japan.